I didn't catch any of the post race coverage because my DVR stopped recording. The initial shot looked like the wheel nut came off. But if he says the drive shaft broke, then that's what happened. It just seems odd that the car was doing fine until he pitted, and then breaks two turns out of pit row.
Race analysis - nearly men no more Reversion to the old rear suspension layout, allied to Michelin’s latest offering, transformed Renault, even though they ran both R26s without the controversial mass dampers. Alonso was in a class of his own, and should have won comfortably. Remember that the safety car intervention for the Raikkonen-Liuzzi accident wiped out a 39.1s lead for the Spaniard. He opened a gap again and looked a certainty for a crucial win when, it was said, a driveshaft broke. Later team insiders confessed that the right rear wheel had not been properly secured in Alonso’s lap 51 pit stop. On a weekend when his fortunes went up and down like a yo-yo, it didn’t help that Giancarlo Fisichella failed to bring any points home after crashing out, but Schumacher’s problems meant that championship-points damage was kept to a minimum. I like being right more than I hate being wrong.
No Spa-Francorchamps at the end of the month. So, let's have a lil consolation. After the 1998 GP (mammoth crash) highlights, there's a little shot where you see a driver running towards a crashed car. It was Ayrton Senna giving help to Erik Comas who lost consciousness after crashing out. The irony being that Comas was the pilot who slalomed between the Senna's Williams debris in this fatal Imola GP. He came out of the pits and was not aware of the crash only to find out at the last moment. Comas later became one of the main drivers in Japanese GT racing, I think he was credited in the 1st GranTurismo .
Fearless Forecast: 1. Kimi 2. Schumi 3. Fisi 4. PDR 5. FA 6. Trulli 7. Massa (I could gets points in that Ferrari right now) 8. Webbo
Bad news for Renault as the FIA's International Court of Appeal has confirmed the illegality of the mass damper: http://uk.sports.yahoo.com/23082006/23/court-appeal-rules-mass-damper-use-illegal.html
Massa wins his first pole. The grid for Turkey. Massa Michael Alonso Fisi Heidfeld Button Raikkonen Kubica Webber Klien DelaRosa Trulli Barrichello Rosberg Ralf Coulthard Speed Liuzzi Monteiro Yamamoto Sato Albers Ralf qualified 5th but had an engine change penalty. Albers qualified 16th, but ditto. Fisichella was reporting engine problems during qualifying, so he may well have to have a change as well (and would drop to 14th).
Looks like a great Ferrari-Renault showdown. This will be the fourth time this season two Ferraris have owned the front row.
What an awesome race and what a great finish. I was absolutely riveted to the screen for the final 15 laps.
Great, great race. Battles all over the track so Massa barely even got any screen time in his first win. Crazy. I still don't understand why Ferrari stacked the pitstop, but I am thrilled that Alonso finished ahead of Schumi. Thrilled.
Massa was sooo happy to get his first win. Ironic that Ferrari's screw-up at the safety car pit stop allowed him to win. If Schumacher had gotten out of the stop in front of Alonso, I think they would've managed a way to have Schumacher pass Massa. About the only way Ferrari could've gotten around that problem was to keep Massa out under the safety car, thereby forfeiting his chance to win. How refreshing that that didn't happen.
One of the explanations is also that Ferrari wanted to play safe, all the teams were concerned about the tire wear in this race. Since it was only the early stages of the GP, they went for the most conservative approach. There was not much strategy in what they did there. I think they also might have thought that the Renaults wouldn't have that pace and well, now they may bang their heads against the wall but there's no real way to know what will be the actual performances of your opponents. More so in those dire heat conditions. Flavio must be satisfied with the pace the blue and yellow single seaters showed today despite not having compensated yet the loss of the tuned mass damper device. Something that is said to cost them four tenth of a second. I'm surprised on how cool they seem to be after this affair. This device was installed last year and they submitted it to the FIA before designing the R26. And now, the rule changes at a critical time in the season. Since this was also installed in many other teams but Renault was the one that obtained the bigger benefit, you really have to restrain yourself not to think about conspiracy. In a way, Renault is in a very positive state of mind : "what is lost is lost, we ain't gonna lose all our determination and offer the championship on a silver plate because of this !" They thought they were going to be completely outpaced here and at Monza before bringing their final spec package for the last three races. They must somewhat be reassured today despite the little help from Liuzzi and his stranded Toro Rosso. But, Ferrari being still so performant, it promises to be a season finale on a knife edge. I wish Renault grabs this one even if I'm not too fond of Alonso as a person, neither am I about Schumi anyway. Not only because of the company's nationality* (when the Williams-Renault were so dominant I was rooting for Ferrari which had so little success at the time) but in this context with their main driver departing, it's difficult to imagine them being able to fight for next year's championship ; and of course, Ferrari have stuffed their shelves to the ceiling those past years already... *Renault is of course a racing team yet I find it difficult to be passionate about a corporate brand. I miss the time when teams were...teams. I wish there was a private french team to follow on the grid . *sigh*
Big battle in one of the GP2 races in Turkey. Hamilton was on fire there going up almost through the whole field. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZJP-X-Vtk0U Lewis Hamilton (white car) / Timo Glock (blue) / Nelsinho Piquet (green) The championship ends at Monza, will McLaren give him the opportunity to drive an F1 before the end of this season ?
Pardon my ignorance but can someone please tell me the difference between these cars? Are they the same thing but re-braned with slightly different aerodynamic adjustments or what? Once again, I'm not mocking anything, rather asking you guys. :x
Nanbawan is the resident expert, but I'll give you the basics. In F1, the cars are build by an individual team from nose to tail. There are specific specs that have to be met (everything from the dimentions of the nose wing to the overall weight of the car). This is nothing different from NASCAR, but the engines are uniquely build (which I think is the basics of your question). The Ferrari engine is much different than the BMW or Toyota, etc. Additionally, these cars have been compared to airplanes with the amount of money spent on designing, testing, manufacturing, etc. The electronics and areodynamics are incredably complicated. My former flatmate graduated with a PhD in areodynamics about the airflow immediately past the wing (within 2 cm, or maybe 5 cm, I forget). At the time of graduating, Sauber had a job posted that matched the description of his PhD.
Big news day, Just tidbits from grandprix.com... 1. Fisi and Kovalainen confirmed for next year at Renault 2. Yet Renault don't have a title sponsor yet for next year. 3. Talks are going deep with UPS. 4. If UPS is the title sponsor Renault could go brown and white next year (!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!) 5. Schumi likely to retire, if he finishes top 3 he'll announce it, if not Ferrari will announce it this weekend. 6. This must mean Kimi to Ferrari. 7. Red Bull still has no idea what engines they are using next year. wow.
Seems to imply that Schumi calls it a career... Renault original F1 colours are yellow, black and white so maybe UPS' pattern can be included with that.
You had it mostly covered ! ;-) The fact that F1 cars are similar is quite logical since the design emanates from a technical formula edicted by the governing body, here, the FIA. Like soccernutter stated in his post, Formula One has the originality of imposing (as it is still the case nowadays, it may change) its competitors to build their own cars unlike in other single seater series where there's usually only one type or several specialised makers sell the teams different parts including the bodywork ; like in Formula 3 where you can have a Dallara or chassis with a Merc engine or a Renault, etc. Well...I've just checked and everybody has a Dallara in Euro series or British champ...I know other companies like Ligier do produce F3 cars. Anyway. In GT series or Sportscar, there are several categories and several technical definitions in each of those categories depending -for instance- on whether you have a turbo charged engine or not. Because of this diversity which is due to to the original definition of the road car from which the racing car is derived (for the GTs) or the different customer -or not- chassis types and engine types, the technical instances of the governing body (FIA or ACO for Le Mans) try to find a set of rules allowing the competition to be evenly balanced with the possibility of adding handicap weight loads to winners in the championship. This is why those cars look and are so dramatically different in addition to their distinctive outside design (Ferrari, Porsche, Corvette, etc). No such things in F1, of course. With the notable exception of the Toro Rosso and its 3 l V10 engine, all competitors abide by the same rules. Besides, since the use of the carbone fiber monocoque from the mid 80's and very strict rules concerning aerodynamics, F1 cars were doomed to have a strong family resemblance. In the mid 90's there were still three types of engine (V8, V10 and V12) but the FIA has been producing rules that are more and more restrictive. They even rule on materials used to make engines and so on. Top engineers are those who can make a car that is performant and reliable, quick and easy to use within those rules. The era of F1 genia who were able to give a team a definitive boost with original ideas is dead and buried. Everything is in small details now. Very difficult to detect it at first glance even for connoisseurs...Yet, even if basic principles are the same for everybody, cars are shaped by the aerodynamics requirements, so they may look all the same (mainly on side views) but there are in fact a lot of distinctive details when you look twice. As restrictive as the technical frame might be, design dept. are still able to give F1 cars some kind of personality. The most striking example being Ferrari with a single seater that has retained its style since 2001. These are three of the main contenders. Renault F1 Team : Renault R26 MacLaren Mercedes : MP4-21 Scuderia Ferrari : Ferrari F248 & Honda Racing RA106